A Design Strategy for your LMS: Advice from Americans for the Arts

A Design Strategy for your LMS: Advice from Americans for the Arts

by | May 26, 2015 | Customer Stories

By name, a learning management system (LMS) is content-driven. It is a site designed to be your members’ and clients’ one-stop shop to access your full array of educational content and collaborative material. Thus, in conceptualizing an LMS, commonly a great deal of time is spent organizing and developing content, while other attributes of the site become more of an afterthought. This can often be the case with the site’s visual concepts and design.

While design plays a more passive role in an LMS, the majority of us have had experiences where a site’s design can cause us to be immediately attracted to, or turned off by, the site upon arriving on the home page. Site design shapes the entire user experience – from whether the user feels welcomed on the site, to the ease of access and navigation. Additionally, in our technology-heavy lives, we have become used to viewing the quality of a website as representative of the credibility and professional-ness of an organization. So while the design is an aspect that literally falls in the background of an LMS, it is also an element that should not be overlooked.

We recently sat down with Kimberly Hedges, Vice President of Web and Technology Strategies with Americans for the Arts (AFTA). AFTA’s Elevate site is soon to launch with a unique and creative design. Admittedly, this is to be expected from an association in the art world, but our conversation with Kimberly revealed that AFTA’s focus in conceptualizing its Elevate site was on items that are broadly applicable to LMS design:

1. Branding is King

Like many associations, AFTA’s design concepts began with its association webpage. “We wanted our materials to look the same across all offerings,” Kimberley explained. Therefore, AFTA’s Elevate page is designed to mirror many of the details from its main website including fonts and color schemes, backgrounds, and menu offerings. In this way, users experience a seamless transition from AFTA’s main website to its Elevate page, and are also able to easily recognize that they are working with an AFTA product.

2. Design Tailored for an LMS

While AFTA’s website served as a blueprint for its Elevate design concept, AFTA also wanted to ensure its design elements worked well in an LMS format, as Kimberley explained, “we wanted to make sure it had a strong relationship to our main website but could still take full advantage of all the LMS functionality we’d have with Elevate.” Here, AFTA drew inspiration from CommPartners’ Elevate site for some cues on building a structure specific to an LMS. AFTA also sought to place itself in the mindset of a user coming to the site, and thought about what design elements could make a user’s experience easier and more pleasant. For example, AFTA developed ‘user-friendly icons’ based around content type and subject, which it created to visually stand out with bright colors.  These help users easily navigate from page to page and quickly find relevant learning content.

3. Convey a Message/Make a Statement

AFTA Blog_picAs Kimberly explained, AFTA sought to use its Elevate site to highlight its role as part of the creative industry in communicating the value of art. In a unique approach, AFTA accomplished this by incorporating public art recognized by its Public Art Network Year in Review Project into its main website and Elevate platform as the background images for its webpages. For interested individuals, the background images are linked to more information about each piece of art. Appropriately, for the background of its Elevate site, AFTA chose a public mural entitled “The Knowledge” installed on the campus of Portland State University.

4. Keep it Professional

While AFTA incorporated bold colors and artistic design into its Elevate page, it was also important to not lose sight of the fact that the Elevate site is a business tool. As such, in addition to conceptualizing a creative design, AFTA also stressed the importance of organization and flow as the building blocks for the site. In this way, AFTA’s Elevate site is able to portray life and art, while at the same time remaining an effective tool for its members to collaborate and learn.

If you’d like more information on LMS design or would like a consultation about designing your Elevate LMS platform site, please reach out to us at efinstein@commpartners.com.

Building Enthusiasm and Loyalty with Podcasts

Building Enthusiasm and Loyalty with Podcasts

by | May 7, 2015 | Blog

There was a span of about a month-and-a-half this past winter when I looked forward to long car rides. Multi-hour drives home for Thanksgiving – awesome, traffic jam – yes! Why was I suddenly thrilled by the idea of sitting in my car? Because, like many of you, I was completely addicted to the NPR podcast, Serial.

I feel like I can include the caveat “like many of you” because, during those couple months, it seemed that I couldn’t have a conversation that lasted more than 15 minutes without someone bringing up Serial. Like a good book or movie, we analyzed it, sought commentary on it, and, upon meeting someone who was not yet listening, had our 2 minute elevator pitch as to why it was the best thing ever ready to go.

Done well, podcasts are conversation starters and a way to build a community around an idea. The ability to use voices, music, and other sound effects allows the producer to connect with his/her audience on a more intimate level than a passive article or blog.  Incorporating podcasts into your LMS platform offerings adds another level of depth to the ways your community can feel connected and remain engaged.

Provide a “Human Moment”

A podcast can serve as a complement to a larger event or course offered to your community. More and more, businesses are employing podcasts as a strategy to engage this customer base in a non-salesy way by telling human interest stories or providing expert tips on topics tangential to their product. This type of “human moment,” is designed to draw the audience in and build loyalty as they feel they are getting a glimpse behind the curtain.

Tell a Story

The most effective podcasts tell a story or seek to provide advice on a particular topic, and they don’t have to be long to have an impact. A quick 5-10 minute clip is the perfect amount of time for a quick story or a list of 3 best practices around a particular topic. The important part is that listeners leave recognizing they just received new insights or information. In our fast-paced lives, a 10 minute audio clip can sometimes deliver a lot more bang than a 1,000 word article.

Build a Community

As noted above, in addition to helping to build organizational and product loyalty, podcasts also help to build a community. Because podcasts are designed to be intriguing and current, they intrinsically spark conversation. Popular podcast series like Serial became popular nearly entirely by word-of-mouth. It seems to be part of the human experience that when we find value or appreciation in something, we seek to share it with others – in the same way that we also recommend movies, books, and restaurants.

So the next time you’re seeking to build momentum and conversation around a new training series or conference, consider incorporating a podcast as a great way to create enthusiasm for your product.

Eve is an Elevate project manager with CommPartners. If you’d like more information about this topic or Elevate, our learning management system you can reach Eve at efinstein@commpartners.com.